Spotify announced that it has reached an agreement with Kakao Entertainment (formerly KakaoM), making its content available on the platform worldwide, including for the first time in South Korea.
The two companies were in a close dispute that saw Kakao – which last month launched a streaming service in Korea – remove the rights to hundreds of songs from its Spotify artists after the licensing agreement between the two companies expired and they have not reached an agreement. new terms. One source says Variety that the uproar on social media by fans of the label’s artists, which include IU and APink – as well as some of the artists themselves – prompted Kakao to return to the negotiating table, with terms not dramatically different from those originally offered. Variety was unable to immediately contact representatives of Spotify and Kakao for further comments on this information.
“We are pleased that Kakao Entertainment content and artists are back on Spotify, allowing our more than 345 million global listeners in 170 countries to once again enjoy the music they love,” said a spokesman for Spotify. “Spotify’s mission has always been to connect artists with their fans around the world and give listeners access to all the music in the world. We are delighted that our Korean listeners can now also enjoy this local music alongside our more than 70 million songs and more than 4 billion playlists. We remain committed to positively impacting Korea’s music streaming ecosystem through our partnerships with local artists, record labels and rights holders. “
A statement from Kakao says: “Kakao Entertainment Corp. (formerly Kakao M) has entered into an agreement with Spotify and will sequentially deliver its music content to Spotify for service inside and outside Korea. Through its diverse partnerships around the world, including Spotify, Kakao Entertainment hopes that music lovers around the world can easily access their artists’ and music content to enjoy K-pop. Kakao Entertainment remains committed to the Korean music ecosystem and its growth and will continue to protect the rights of local artists, record labels and rights holders going forward. “
The differences came to light on March 1, when Spotify confirmed that its platform would no longer have access to the music of artists represented by Kakao Entertainment.
“Spotify can confirm that as of March 1, 2021, the Kakao M catalog will no longer be available to our listeners worldwide due to the expiration of our license. We have been working with Kakao M over the past year and a half to renew the global licensing agreement, ”said Spotify in a statement sent to Variety. “We hope that this interruption will be temporary and we will be able to resolve the situation soon.”
The Yonhap news agency reports that Kakao M said the suspension of the deal was related to Spotify’s policy, according to which it seeks content agreements worldwide, covering local and international services.
Despite the importance of K-pop worldwide, Spotify was late to the Korean music streaming market. Although Spotify identifies South Korea as the sixth largest music market in the world, in February the company described South Korea as only the 93rd market in which its service would be available.
Its late entry into a market that has long been an Internet pioneer – Korea’s mobile broadband is widespread and among the fastest in the world – meant that Spotify was launching after established companies. This includes Melon, the market leader for Kakao Corp., with an estimated 8.81 million subscribers. Other established players include telecom operator KT Corp.’s Genie Music, with 4.47 million, and SK Telecom’s Flo, with 2.86 million.
Spotify said at launch that it was introducing 120 playlists exclusively for the South Korean market, including Hot Hits Korea, New Music Friday Korea, Korean Music Rising and Fresh! New Music Korea.
Although Spotify needs to update itself within South Korea, he argues that its scale and operations have played a role in expanding the success of Korean music on an international stage. The service has 155 million subscribers, 345 million average monthly users, to which it currently offers more than 70 million tracks. Its users created 4.5 billion playlists.